Why a Knight's Hatred Is Right (5)
Lee Han spoke as if, for the moment, her explanation had satisfied him.
"Anyway, I get that you hate each other."
"…It is hardly a matter so simple."
Isis's tone carried a faint disappointment, as though she had been ready to launch into a full lecture on history. He, however, wanted the reality before him more than any lesson, and he asked again what the prince's birthday was supposed to mean.
"I told you around this time last year. Why Arthur's existence matters."
"…?"
"Have you forgotten already?"
"I only bother remembering what I need…."
"Shameless wretch…! Did I not say it? My child is the bridge that will join Pendragon and Britannia!"
"I… think you might have said something like that?"
"…Rotten man."
Isis looked as though she would sooner die than suffer him, yet her explanation went on.
"My child, Arthur, is the one and only child to inherit the blood of both the royal house of Pendragon and the royal house of Britannia. His very existence becomes an immense justification for thinning the discord between Britannia and Pendragon."
In a monarchy, what mattered in the end was blood. When that blood belonged to royalty of noble lineage, even the people acknowledged it, and blood that carried the Dragon's Blessing, as Pendragon's did, tended to be held all the more sacred.
And likewise—
"Britannia prizes its own blood as well."
Britannia went a step further still. Worship of its royalty had continued even into the present age, and in some respects they might weigh blood more strictly than Pendragon itself. In that sense, Arthur, the crown grandson who had inherited the blood of both royal houses, would furnish a fitting justification for uniting the two kingdoms.
And so—
"This banquet is not merely a Debutante for little children. It is the first appearance of the great king who will one day unite the will of the South. The banquet must succeed, and not a single mishap can be permitted."
"……."
"You may think it some trifling reason, but this is the realm of politics. Raising an army is not a thing to be done at once. This banquet must not be allowed to fail."
"…Yeah. It's definitely a reason I can't bring myself to accept."
Lee Han forced himself to nod, as if he were conceding the point. Acceptance, however, was only acceptance.
"Then how are you going to handle it? There are this many things that could go wrong, and you're still pushing it all the way?"
He was asking whether she had any measure prepared for the matter. And, for the record—
"I'm not cleaning this one up for you."
"……."
"I'll help if it's catching those fanatic bastards, but I've got no mind to stick my nose into politics. Want me to be honest? Lately I really think this kingdom is hopelessly incompetent. How is the place crawling with traitors?"
It was not only this time. One had only to look at the people he had beaten down over the past year. How incompetent did a kingdom have to be for so many traitors to exist, so many willing to cooperate with the fanatics? From the lowest of the low to merchants, and even to nobles, people of every stripe were aiding the Blood Cross Army, and the thought that rose in Lee Han as he watched was this.
"Feels a bit wrong coming out of my own mouth, but it honestly wouldn't have been strange if this kingdom collapsed at any moment. If it hadn't been for me and the others, it might really have been finished. So how long am I supposed to keep stepping in? Frankly, I just want to focus on the fanatic bastards. Do I have to waste my attention on these goddamn noble brats too? They aren't even gnats, and they keep crawling out…."
Incompetent. If any word fit the kingdom as it stood, that was it, and Lee Han clicked his tongue.
"People can run short. Shortcomings can't always be helped. But a kingdom, at least, shouldn't be like this, should it? Sister, I'm sorry, but there's a limit to what I'll do out of loyalty, and I don't expect any more payment from you. Oh—and for the record, the Ambrosia was already promised, so don't try to talk your way around it."
"…You damned wretch."
"So is there anything wrong with what I said?"
"That is why you are a damned wretch. Not a single word of it is mistaken…. Insolent boy, must you defeat your elder sister with words?"
Rarely for her, Isis could not even muster a rebuttal and only vented her temper. More precisely, there was nothing she could rebut. Just as he had said, without him the kingdom might not have fallen, yet it would have met crises nearly as dire dozens of times over. Deny that, and she would become a sorry creature who did not know a debt of grace.
"Haa…. That we are sliding toward a ruined kingdom is a fact I cannot deny."
"……."
Watching her go so far as to admit her own failing was, if anything, unsettling. He had expected her to brazen it out, as usual. Perhaps that was why, without quite meaning to, he let a remark of rather dangerous weight slip free.
"……."
"Don't misunderstand. I'm not saying this because I want money or a title. If the king we've got is a bit lacking, then you should just plant yourself above him. That's all. …If that was an offensive thing to say, I apologize."
"……."
"I said I apologize!"
Still taking her silence for anger, Lee Han grumbled the apology out, yet she continued to hold her tongue. Then, all at once—
"Ahahaha!"
"?"
Isis began to laugh as if she had lost her mind, like a woman who had just heard the most ridiculous thing in the world. She laughed without a thought for dignity or breeding, and for that moment she looked like nothing so much as a village goodwife. The laughter was that unrestrained, that thoroughly delighted.
"Haa! Was my sworn younger brother trying to kill me by making my belly ache? If that was your intent, I shall praise you. You very nearly succeeded."
"Where, exactly, was the punchline?"
"All of it. Speaking of the throne as lightly as adopting a pet—it is simply too amusing. Haha."
"…Are you saying I was arrogant?"
"No. Not that. You are more than qualified to be arrogant."
For instance—
"Sir Ganok mentioned it. That you are stronger than he. That alone means you have become one of the foremost powers even in the South."
"You mean that old man from Mordred?"
"Yes."
"…I'm still a good forty years younger than that old fellow. Of course I might be stronger…."
To that objection—
"He was vice-captain of the White Dragon Knight Order, and he rose as far as Third Sword among the Southern Ten Swords. For reference, the man who held the Second Sword is the present leader of the Wild Wolves, known by another name as the Mercenary King."
"……."
With those firm words came a history he had not expected.
"You may not know, so I shall explain. The White Dragon Knight Order was once… no. It is called the strongest knight order in the history of Pendragon. Regardless of birth, people, sex, race, or creed, it was an order into which, so they say, anyone could enter, so long as they were strong."
"Then the captain was…?"
"Sir Baltar, of course. For reference, the First Sword of the Southern Ten Swords is that very man. …To my displeasure."
"……."
"Do you understand now? Though he has aged, Sir Ganok's ability has not fallen even from the days of his youth, and he said that you stand above him. In truth, that means your strength has risen to a level counted among the finest even in this kingdom. And a man such as you, should he only set his mind to it, could overturn the Royal Castle easily enough."
"……."
Lee Han was too busy blinking at the flood of new information to savor praise of that sort. The White Dragon Knight Order, the Southern Ten Swords—something about the names felt childish.
Ah. Like the Ten Venerables of the martial world?
Once he thought of it that way, the childishness became oddly convincing, and he found it interesting that he already knew a fair number of them. Baltar and Ganok, of course, and as for the Mercenary King—
Didn't our mercenary brat say he was that old man's disciple?
It even touched a student under his own hand. Fate was amusing for reasons like that, and he was just about to ask why Ganok, only the Third Sword, had been made vice-captain over the Mercenary King, when—
"…Yet your true strength is probably people. You share a certain friendship with Galahad and Lionel, with Tristan and Mordred, and further still with Offen and Guinevere, and you stand in close cooperation with the Guild Association. Seeing that, if you truly took my side, even a usurpation of the throne would seem no great problem. Hehe."
Isis smiled with quiet pleasure, as if the mere imagining delighted her, and she looked at him as though he were splendid beyond measure. However—
"But it must not be so. No. At the least, I must become king by my strength alone. So, regrettably, it seems I cannot accept your help."
"…You've got more of a romantic streak than I thought?"
Was she saying a seat taken on someone else's strength was not truly one's own? The way she put it sat strangely.
"It is not that. If one means to seize power, do the means and methods matter? One ought not to be particular about means and manner. However…"
"?"
"Unfortunately, there is a weakness."
"A weak… ness?"
"My weakness. My father is… of all people, the man who knows my one and only weakness. That is why I must ascend the throne by the proper path. So long as that weakness remains, I can never use another's aid, nor even some special stratagem. The only thing permitted me is the orthodox way…."
"……."
It was unfamiliar. Isis—this woman, always so sure of herself, this auntie—was speaking of weakness for the first time. The word itself lodged strangely in his mind. He did not know what it was, but—
So it really is a troublesome weakness.
Lee Han was not so tactless as to ask what weakness she carried, nor foolish enough to try to guess. However close they were, there were lines one had to keep, and there was no need for him to know that one. Instead—
"I don't know what it is, but hang in there."
"…Thank you."
"Not that I'm saying I'll help."
"……Insolent boy. You lift a person's mood only to drop it again."
Isis half-lidded her eyes as if he were maddening, yet her mood did not look poor.
"Do not fret. I will not let needless blood stain your hands. The kingdom's vermin, I shall deal with myself."
"Mighty confident, aren't you?"
"One keeps a hidden move, as a rule. And if it truly comes to it…."
A soft rustle.
"I shall have to plead with that butler, insolent beyond all measure."
"……."
"I must hope it does not come to that."
"…Wipe the smile off your mouth before you lie, would you?"
"Oh my?"
"Oh my, nothing. Don't even think of putting on that act somewhere else."
Lee Han clicked his tongue. He knew what it meant for the butler—the former inquisitor of heresy—to step forward.
That butler's specialty, back when he was active, was definitely….
Wiping out the nine clans, wasn't it?
"Ugh…."
If it could be helped, Lee Han hoped that not one of his disciples' houses had even the slightest connection to those people.